But when playing for City Colts on Saturday afternoon, the former Bathurst District Cricket Association captain displayed he's still got it to finish the innings with an undefeated knock of 156 runs against Centrals at Wade Park.

The total is the highest score of the Bathurst Orange Inter District Cricket Association season so far and just the second century of the campaign after Blake Aubin's undefeated 123 for Centennials Bulls last weekend.

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Gardner is expecting a pretty sore work as he recovers from his century, which has Colts leading by 316 runs heading into day two.

"It was certainly a team effort to get to the total where we needed to get to, but I'm certainly feeling the affects of it today, I can tell you that," he said.

"I'm 48 at the moment, so I'm truly well and past the best of my career, but I have a love for the game and I love to be around my mates, contribute and have a bit of fun.

"I'm definitely feeling it. It'll probably take me a whole week to recover."

Gardner came in as the number four batsman, with his side at 3-48 after the dismissal of Dave Sellers (30 runs), Henry Shoemark (seven runs) and Josh Toole (seven runs).

The former Bathurst City and Centennials player was partnered with Craig Berry for a majority of his innings, with Berry scoring 79 with the bat.

"We hit the ball really well and you need to apply yourself in that situation and you want to spend as much time out in the middle, which worked really well," Gardner said.

"It was a terrific effort from Craig Berry as well. We had a really good partnership in the middle, which helped things along. We helped keep each other going along during that stint."

By the end of his stint on the field, Colts had declared at 9-330, in a prime position to win their second game of the season.

Centrals bowlers Zac Reimer (4-95 off 15.5 overs) and Ed Dodds (4-80 off 22 overs) both took four wickets each, but both conceded close to 100 runs and neither were unable to find that elusive Gardner wicket.

Centrals only had four overs with the bat and it started in the worst possible manner, with Matt Stephen dismissing opening bat Max Powell for a duck in the first ball he faced.

Fellow opener Brenton Anthony had managed four runs, but hasn't been dismissed and neither has Kurt Gander, the number three bat still in with 10 runs to his name.

Gardner admitted he's been enjoying himself at Colts, a team he's joined for the 2020-21 campaign.

"They're an awesome group," he said.

"I've played with Dan [Casey], Josh [Toole] and a few of the others previously but they're certainly passionate about their cricket and the team structure.

"It's a really good club and a great group to play with."

Play is expected to resume between City Colts and Centrals at Wade Park next Saturday from 1.30pm.